“The demand for maps across industries has increased significantly. Various applications developed with the use of these maps help enterprises streamline their procurement, processing, storage, and supply chain functions. For instance, retail chain owners who initially used maps for supply chain management to track fleets, now use indoor location maps to track consumer behavior within the store. Similarly, for efficient fleet management, almost all transport vehicles are being equipped with in-dash devices. Its adoption makes use of digital maps integrated into in-dash devices to monitor vehicles,” said Rakesh Kumar Panda, one of Technavio’s lead industry analysts for m2m connected devices.

“Individual users use digital maps on their wearable devices. Also, healthcare service providers such as hospitals, clinics, and community centers use digital maps to track and monitor ambulances, medical equipment, in-patients, doctors, and other staff. Digital maps are also being deployed in oil and mineral exploration locations, with many large and medium-sized organizations using these maps to track their employees,” added Rakesh.

Global mobile mapping market by geographical segmentation 2015

Americas – 40.5%

EMEA – 34.2%

APAC – 25.3%

Source: Technavio research

Americas: largest mobile mapping market

North America emerged as the majority contributor of revenue for the mobile mapping market in the Americas in 2015. High adoption of mobile mapping solutions, services, and platforms in transportation and logistics, retail, manufacturing, and media and entertainment sectors in the US and Canada primarily drive market growth in the region. Capitalizing on the growing prominence of connected cars in the US, leading map providers such as HERE and TomTom are developing partnerships with automobile manufacturers in the region. The growing user base for digital maps in smartphones is further driving the market in North America. Further, as many location-enabled application developers in the US are presently using mapping platforms for developing innovative location-enabled applications, the North America market is likely to remain buoyant until 2020.

In 2015, TomTom and Garmin emerged as the leading mapping solution providers for Latin America. Technavio researchers have observed that most map developers are using hybrid models for obtaining map information from Latin American countries. For instance, HERE used 20 map-making communities for developing the maps of 16 major cities in Brazil. The company is mainly using the crowdsourcing map development model and taking the help of the local student communities and professors from universities and this trend is likely to persist over the forecast period.

EMEA: second largest mobile mapping market

Increased use of indoor maps at airports, malls, universities, and government establishments has been driving the market. In the Middle East and Africa region, South Africa, Ghana, Nigeria, Egypt, and Libya are the major countries contributing to market growth. Also, increased adoption of location-enabled applications in EMEA is positively impacting the adoption of such maps.

The acquisition of HERE by a consortium of German automakers is expected to significantly impact the market dynamics in this region over the next four years. With this acquisition, the company’s market share and revenue is expected to increase rapidly, and this development will enable it to compete with companies such as Google and TomTom over the next four years.

Mobile mapping market in APAC

Currently, the mobile mapping market in APAC is experiencing steady growth. After 2017, its growth rate and revenue are expected to increase rapidly fueled by factors such as improved network connectivity, increased penetration of mobile devices equipped with GPS, the rise in demand for mapping applications and LBS among enterprises, and high growth in developing economies such as China and India.

In India, Garmin and MapmyIndia are the major players offering innovative mapping solutions for automobile manufacturers. Apart from India and China, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore are the major revenue contributors to the market.